NEW YORK (AP) — Brock Nelson scored twice as the New York Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 Wednesday night and clinched a playoff berth.
The Islanders are awaiting the outcome of the Florida Panthers-Carolina Hurricanes game on Thursday to determine their first-round playoff opponent. New York missed the postseason last year, and that led to the firing of head coach Barry Trotz in May.
Hudson Fasching and Anders Lee also scored for New York, and Ilya Sorokin made 16 saves as the Islanders closed out their regular season. Noah Dobson added two assists.
Rem Pitlick and Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal, and Sam Montembeault finished with 31 saves in the Canadiens’ next-to-last game of the regular season.
Lee scored a power-play goal at 16:01 of the third period to give the Islanders 4-2 lead. The Islanders captain redirected a shot from Sebastian Aho for his 28th goal of the season.
Suzuki cut the Canadiens deficit in half with a crafty short-handed goal at 14:38 of the second period. Montreal’s captain beat Islanders defenseman Samuel Bolduc in a foot race and, with one hand, lifted the puck over the glove of Sorokin. Bolduc did not play another shift after te goal.
Nelson extended the Islanders’ lead to 3-1 with his second goal of the game midway through the second period. New York generated several scoring opportunities on an extended shift in the offensive zone, and Nelson eventually redirected Dobson’s shot at 10:20. Scott Mayfield also assisted on the play.
The Islanders outshot the Canadiens 19-6 in the middle period.
Nelson scored his team-leading 35th goal to open the scoring at 10:27 of the first period. The 31-year-old entered the offensive zone with possession of the puck and fired a wrist shot from the high slot past the glove of Montembault. Kyle Palmieri and Adam Pelech picked up assists.
Before the first goal of the game, Sorokin made a neat save with his right pad on Canadiens forward Denis Gurianov to keep the game scoreless.
Fasching helped the Islanders regain a one-goal edge with a timely goal at 18:57 of the first. Jean-Gabriel Pageau set up Zach Parise for a deflection that rang off the crossbar and Fasching crashed the net and buried the rebound to give New York a 2-1 lead.
Pitlick blasted a one-timer to tie the game at 1 at 17:38 of the first period. Jake Evans stole the puck from Dobson and found Pitlick alone in the circle.
NOTES: Canadiens forward Joel Teasdale made his NHL debut. … Josh Bailey returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous three games. … Mathew Barzal and Alexander Romanov continue to skate on their own, but haven’t participated in a team practice as of yet. Barzal sustained a lower-body injury on Feb.18 against the Boston Bruins, and Romanov has been sidelined with an upper-body injury he suffered on Apr. 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Will play Boston Bruins or Carolina Hurricanes in opening round of the playoffs.
Canadiens: Close out their season by hosting Boston on Thursday.
